Diane Abbott believes that Giorgia Meloni is a ‘literal fascist’. That must come as a surprise to the 12.3 million voters who elected her prime minister of Italy two years ago. Not to mention King Charles, who hosted Meloni at Blenheim Palace in July.
The Right Honourable Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington described Meloni as a fascist as Keir Starmer jetted to Italy this week to meet the country’s leader. ‘What does he hope to learn from her,’ asked Abbott. Perhaps the British premier would like to hear how Meloni has this year reduced immigrant arrivals on Italian territory by 65 per cent.
Is this the behaviour of a fascist regime?
Meloni has accomplished this feat by doing deals with countries such as Tunisia and Albania to help reduce the trade in human trafficking. In the case of the latter, Italy will foot the €670 million (£560 million) bill for the asylum processing centres that will be built in Albania to examine the claims of those wishing to settle in Europe. Pregnant women and minors will not be sent to Albania. Is this the behaviour of a fascist regime?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines fascism as ‘a political philosophy, movement, or regime…that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralised autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition’.
Meloni is not a fascist and nor, incidentally, is the left-wing German chancellor Olaf Scholz whose government this week introduced tougher border controls. There has, however, been one regime in recent years that fits the fascist bill, implementing ‘severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition’.
It was called the Islamic State. It established its caliphate in Iraq and Syria in June 2014, and within weeks its followers had murdered, raped and enslaved thousands of Yazidi because they were considered ‘infidels’, Also shown no mercy by Isis were homosexuals, thrown off the top of buildings, and western aid workers.
Ten years ago this month, British humanitarian aid worker David Haines was beheaded; a fortnight later, Alan Henning from Lancashire suffered a similar, terrible fate. The murder of both men was filmed and broadcast to the world.
The Isis fighter who butchered the two Brits was himself British: Mohammed Emwazi, aka Jihadi John, one of an estimated 5,000 Europeans who left their comfortable lives to serve the Islamic State in some capacity or others.
Among the Britons who joined Isis were three London teenagers, one of whom was Shamima Begum, later stripped of her citizenship by the Conservative government.
When Begum’s baby died in a Syrian refugee camp, Diane Abbott called it ‘a stain on the conscience of this government’. Describing Begum as a ‘vulnerable young woman’ who had been groomed by the Islamic State, Abbott accused the Tories of removing her citizenship to appease the right-wing press.
In fact, the government was in tune with the British public, 78 per cent of whom supported the decision to revoke Begum’s citizenship.
Polls throughout Europe consistently find that the majority of the population, be they British, French, German or Italian, want the continent’s borders to be far better policed. One of the reasons is the ongoing threat from the far-from-finished Islamic State. Earlier this year, they slaughtered nearly 150 Russians in a Moscow concert hall; last month in Germany, a Syrian acting in their name, murdered three people at a diversity festival. This is the principal reason why Germany has tightened its borders.
Starmer appears ready to learn from Meloni
France’s national anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen revealed last week that the security services had foiled three major attacks during the summer Olympics in Paris. Nonetheless, as one of France’s leading security experts explained, the threat from Isis (and Al-Qaida) remains great. ‘They have evolved and now employ different modes of action, which can vary from one part of the globe to another,’ said Alexandre Rodde.
What hasn’t evolved is the ideology of the Islamic State. They remain what they were a decade ago, as described by the journal of International Socialism: ‘Isis has the traits of a new form of fascist movement, and that the Caliphate state is a fascist state of a particular nature in specific circumstances.’
Giorgia Meloni is now arguably the EU’s most influential leader, a woman who, in June’s European elections, came top among Italian voters. ‘Meloni has asserted herself as the head of the most stable government among major European countries,’ remarked Le Monde newspaper in France.
She has achieved this by addressing the anger and anxiety of Italians about mass uncontrolled immigration. Starmer appears ready to learn from her. As for Abbott, she needs to learn what is a real fascist.
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